US should not decry China for lending to BRI countries: Media

BEIJING - The United States should not decry China for lending to countries involved in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and should instead extend infrastructure lending to poor countries, according to The Diplomat magazine.

"Rather than decrying China for lending to BRI countries, the United States should engage in infrastructure lending to poor countries, and/or make it easier for multilateral banks to lend for such projects, reducing bureaucratic requirements," said an article published Saturday.

The BRI has repeatedly been labeled by someone as "a debt trap and a power grab," but this has been debunked by careful research, the article said.

There is "no evidence that Chinese banks over-lend or invest in loss-making projects to obtain a foothold in those countries," Deborah Brautigam, director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, was quoted as saying by the article.

"There is further evidence that China is not engaging in debt trap diplomacy," said the article.

Other countries, not just impoverished countries, have chosen to join the BRI, it said. "The BRI has reached not only Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, but also East Asia and Europe."

Meanwhile, the China-proposed BRI is not a threat to the United States, the article pointed out.